Koh Samet Resorts Face Probes And Demolition

[webfact]

Samet resorts face probes and demolition

The Nation

RAYONG: -- The demolition of many illegally built resorts on Koh Samet is set and awaiting a date to be decided soon, Rayong Governor Seni Jitkasem said yesterday.

Out of 60 resorts on the tourist island facing demolition orders, there are four set to suffer such a fate - Pla Cartoon Seafood, Bai Tong Seafood, Fong Nam Seafood, and Navi DD Seafood - pending dates to be set by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

Owners of two of the four resorts have appealed to the Supreme Court against the demolition order, while Muang Rayong police are handling the 56 other land-encroachment cases.

Today, the Rayong Provincial Administrative Organisation will have an opening ceremony for a number of legally built shops and a 24-unit facility for fishermen, before authority to run these structures is handed over to Khao Laem Ya-Samet Islands National Park officials.

-- The Nation 2012-08-15

[Ricardo]

Can't help feeling that this all comes 25 years too late, as far as Koh Samet is concerned, it's been a tourist-destination for at least that long & the visitors have been staying in illegally-built bungalows for all of that time.

Perhaps better to accept what's happened long ago, and re-designate the National-Park boundaries, in this case ?

[RickBradford]

Ko Samet should be renamed 'The Isle of Plastic Bags.'

It is utterly filthy, and the guardians of the National Park are content to sit in their nice little hut collecting the 200 baht 'park fees', rather than doing anything as demeaning as menial work to keep the place clean.

The other problem is that there are no 'residents' of Koh Samet -- all the people operating tourist shills there are from the mainland, so couldn't give a dam_n how revolting the place gets.

[Katipo]

I still enjoy Koh Samed. While I agree it is suffering under the strain of the ever growing tourist burden, there are still lovely and relatively quiet spots to enjoy. Having said that, cutting back on the number of bungalows and restaurants, many of which are eye-sores, can only be a good thing.

I am not familiar with either of the 3 mentioned above, and suspect they are small establishments with little or no financial clout. I bet we don't see the recently built, very ugly, and almost certainly illegal 5* Paradee Resort knocked to the ground for example.

[Greer]

I first visited Koh Samet around 1989, and it had huge dumps full of plastic bags and bottles - why not get the "resort" owners to support and work on a cleanup instead?

[AleG]

Note to self: don´t open a resort with "Seafood" in the name.

I first visited Koh Samet around 1989, and it had huge dumps full of plastic bags and bottles - why not get the "resort" owners to support and work on a cleanup instead?

Samet, and indeed other islands, are a perfect place to enforce a ban on plastic bags.

[givenall]

Can't help feeling that this all comes 25 years too late, as far as Koh Samet is concerned, it's been a tourist-destination for at least that long & the visitors have been staying in illegally-built bungalows for all of that time.

Perhaps better to accept what's happened long ago, and re-designate the National-Park boundaries, in this case ?

All it really means there will be new resort build by people that are liked or on the side of this government

[freedom4life]

Can't help feeling that this all comes 25 years too late, as far as Koh Samet is concerned, it's been a tourist-destination for at least that long & the visitors have been staying in illegally-built bungalows for all of that time.

Perhaps better to accept what's happened long ago, and re-designate the National-Park boundaries, in this case ?

All it really means there will be new resort build by people that are liked or on the side of this government

I agree...but your avatar is ridiculous and inappropriate.

[kimamey]

Can't help feeling that this all comes 25 years too late, as far as Koh Samet is concerned, it's been a tourist-destination for at least that long & the visitors have been staying in illegally-built bungalows for all of that time.

Perhaps better to accept what's happened long ago, and re-designate the National-Park boundaries, in this case ?

All it really means there will be new resort build by people that are liked or on the side of this government

I agree...but your avatar is ridiculous and inappropriate.

I think it's very funny. Maybe you haven't seen the text, which isn't clear without going to the profile page and zooming in. To save you the trouble the girl is saying "With this I'm going to control your LIFE" As far as I know this has been the avatar for a long time.

Getting back to the topic. I've never been to Koh Samet so I don't know much about it although my experience of Thailand in general suggests the comments about plastic bags and general rubbish are probably accurate. I'm not sure what the outcome should be but it's difficult if some of the resorts have been there illegally for many years. One possible option other than demolition might be heavy fines for the owners of the properties and those officials responsible for the failure to address the problem over the years starting with those that allowed it in the first place. The money could go to helping the island. Maybe cleaning the place up and educating people not to discard rubbish. After that set proper boundaries and stick to them.

[bluegecko]

Ko Samet should be renamed 'The Isle of Plastic Bags.'

It is utterly filthy, and the guardians of the National Park are content to sit in their nice little hut collecting the 200 baht 'park fees', rather than doing anything as demeaning as menial work to keep the place clean.

The other problem is that there are no 'residents' of Koh Samet -- all the people operating tourist shills there are from the mainland, so couldn't give a dam_n how revolting the place gets.

I would completey agree with this and also add that consdering the deplorable condition of the one little road going through this island that it is clear that almsot all of the Park Fees are going into the pockets of the "Park Rangers" (I use that term very, very, loosely), and up the chain of command. To read that the "illegal" resorts are being replaced with "legal" ones and handed over to the same people as above is both disheartening and shameful, but at the same time laughable. I will never go back to this paradise in a plastic bag.

[belg]

oh the poor 4 did not pay the rigth bribes to the right persons

[klikster]

I first visited Koh Samet around 1989, and it had huge dumps full of plastic bags and bottles - why not get the "resort" owners to support and work on a cleanup instead?

Yup, I was there around Songkran time in '90. 2 meter high pyramids of beer bottles. I asked one resort employee how they disposed of them. He pointed out to the gulf.

[simple1]

My wife has family members who live on Koh Samet. In the past funds have been allocated to improve the road & infrastructure, but the person responsible has done a runner with the funds (Don't know the job title). Allegedly this has happened twice. Also politicians have in the past done the usual illegal land grab for resorts, as the locals did not have documentation for land ownership. I may be wrong, but I understand this has only recently been rectified.

e.g. Info from 12/2011

Conflicts over public land encroachment on the island between locals and authorities have remained unresolved for years. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which is a key agency investigating whether Koh Samet residents have rights over land possession on the island since 2002, on Saturday accompanied authorities to discuss the problem with residents and owners of the resorts. The NHRC decided the state agency should issue a land ownership document for 34 cases of Koh Samet residents who have been living on 700 rai before the establishment of Khao-Laem Ya-Mu Koh Samet National Park in 1991.

When Abhisit Vejjajiva was the prime minister, he set up a committee to grant land documents to those people. However, the issuing of land documents was suspended when the Pheu Thai Party took over government this year.

Edited August 15, 2012 by simple1

[sprq]

I first visited Koh Samet around 1989, and it had huge dumps full of plastic bags and bottles - why not get the "resort" owners to support and work on a cleanup instead?

I last visited Koh Samet before that, when the only problem was the turds in the woods and the typical hut was about 40 baht. I've listened in horror to people's accounts of the isle ever since, a national park invaded and ruined by resort builders with absolute impunity. This now sounds like just four poor cheap restaurants getting done as a result of not enough clout.

[kimamey]

My wife has family members who live on Koh Samet. In the past funds have been allocated to improve the road & infrastructure, but the person responsible has done a runner with the funds (Don't know the job title). Allegedly this has happened twice. Also politicians have in the past done the usual illegal land grab for resorts, as the locals did not have documentation for land ownership. I may be wrong, but I understand this has only recently been rectified.

e.g. Info from 12/2011

Conflicts over public land encroachment on the island between locals and authorities have remained unresolved for years. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which is a key agency investigating whether Koh Samet residents have rights over land possession on the island since 2002, on Saturday accompanied authorities to discuss the problem with residents and owners of the resorts. The NHRC decided the state agency should issue a land ownership document for 34 cases of Koh Samet residents who have been living on 700 rai before the establishment of Khao-Laem Ya-Mu Koh Samet National Park in 1991.

When Abhisit Vejjajiva was the prime minister, he set up a committee to grant land documents to those people. However, the issuing of land documents was suspended when the Pheu Thai Party took over government this year.

Thanks for that info. It's also good to hear that the previous government tried to do something about it.

[stefb1964]

It would only be fair to do this nationwide, albeit a more complex issue in Thailand.

[h90]

Can't help feeling that this all comes 25 years too late, as far as Koh Samet is concerned, it's been a tourist-destination for at least that long & the visitors have been staying in illegally-built bungalows for all of that time.

Perhaps better to accept what's happened long ago, and re-designate the National-Park boundaries, in this case ?

Than they need to re-designate the boundaries every year, because people will never end....

[h90]

My wife has family members who live on Koh Samet. In the past funds have been allocated to improve the road & infrastructure, but the person responsible has done a runner with the funds (Don't know the job title). Allegedly this has happened twice. Also politicians have in the past done the usual illegal land grab for resorts, as the locals did not have documentation for land ownership. I may be wrong, but I understand this has only recently been rectified.

e.g. Info from 12/2011

Conflicts over public land encroachment on the island between locals and authorities have remained unresolved for years. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which is a key agency investigating whether Koh Samet residents have rights over land possession on the island since 2002, on Saturday accompanied authorities to discuss the problem with residents and owners of the resorts. The NHRC decided the state agency should issue a land ownership document for 34 cases of Koh Samet residents who have been living on 700 rai before the establishment of Khao-Laem Ya-Mu Koh Samet National Park in 1991.

When Abhisit Vejjajiva was the prime minister, he set up a committee to grant land documents to those people. However, the issuing of land documents was suspended when the Pheu Thai Party took over government this year.

Pheu Thai the cancer of Thailand like always....